THE SELF-ACTUALIZING COSMOS

Ervin Laszlo is well-known for his hypothesis of the Akashic Field --- a non-local field that permeates the universe, analogous to David Bohm's Implicate Order. Non-local effects are phenomena that appear to propagate faster than the speed of light and are not limited by space-time geometries. Like a universal ether they pervade the entire universe, and are not limited by time either. Laszlo believes that existing physics cannot explain non-local phenomena. A new paradigm is required such as the Akashic paradigm --- the subject of this book.

He brings the reader up to date with the latest findings in particle physics that are difficult to explain in terms of existing physics. Quantum entanglement is one example, where information between related sub-atomic particles appears to propagate instantaneously. In one experiment, the intention to observe one particle instantly affects the behaviour of another, even though the experiment is never carried out. Other examples of non-locality are parapsychological phenomena such as remote healing, telepathic links, and remote communication with plants and animals. Those phenomena can be understood within the framework of a deep dimension that enfolds all of space-time.

An analogy to the deep dimension is a sea wave whose surface represents space-time as we know it, the Manifest dimensions, (M-dimension) while within the body of the wave is the non-local dimension, the A-dimension (A for Akashic). Akasha and the Akashic field are not new theories but were proposed by Hindu philosophers thousands of years ago as the universal ground that gives birth to the physical world. Laszlo points out that physical fields (gravitation, electro-magnetic etc) and sub-atomic particles are not real entities originating in our manifest world, but emerge into it from the A-dimension. A-dimension may explain not only non-local phenomena but the fine tuning of physical constants required for our universe to exist. In a cyclical universe, the memory of one universe, its physical properties, can be carried forward into the next via the A-dimension.

However the A-dimension is not only a theoretical concept proposed to explain new physics. It plays a fundamental role in our daily lives, and is accessible to anyone who takes the trouble to access it. He interviews a healer, Dr. Maria Sagi who recounts how she accesses and uses the A-Dimension in her work. Her healing crosses not only space boundaries, as in remote healing, but also time. She can heal wounds that happened in a subject's past. However one doesn't need to be a medium, clairvoyant or healer to experience the A-dimension. It is where our consciousness arises. The A-dimension can explain the hard problem of consciousness --- how a physical brain and consciousness (probably non-physical) are able to interact. Consciousness resides in the A-dimension while the brain works in the M-dimension. Because the A- dimension is beyond space and time, it contains the entire consciousness of the universe, all information that is, was and is to come. Potentially we have access to it. However our brains filter that information to protect us from an overload that would burn us out. We can however open the filter to allow more information in, via altered states of consciousness, achievable through a variety of methods.

How can the Akashic field be incorporated into modern physics? Two promising hypotheses, Paul LaViolette's Sub Quantum Kinetics and Peter Jakubowski's Universal Quantum Field may provide the framework for the A-dimension. To understand those chapters the reader must have a specialist's knowledge of sub-atomic physics. La Violette postulates a "space-filling etheric medium" populated by entities called etherons that give birth to elementary particles in the M-dimension. This recalls the continuous creation in the Steady State Theory of Fred Hoyle. Jakubowski's Universal Quantum Field is unobservable except for fluctuations that cross it. Our world is composed of those fluctuations. Both hypotheses clearly have yet to make testable predictions before they can be accepted. However I am encouraged to see some physicists grappling with the issues instead of dismissing them.

"The Self-Actualizing Cosmos" presents many provocative ideas that challenge not only physics but our perception of who we are and the nature of our consciousness. The realisation that our consciousness arises in a deep dimension, beyond space and time, and indeed, that there is only one consciousness, can be life-transforming. For those familiar with Laszlo's writings, this book presents his latest thinking. For those new to those ideas, it is an excellent introduction to them.